1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an on-line shopping system, and more particularly, to an on-line shopping system which enables users to do shopping by referring to on-line advertisements posted on home pages provided by World Wide Web (WWW) servers on the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent popularization of the Internet, so-called on-line shopping has become available wherein catalogs are posted on home pages provided by WWW servers on the Internet so that users can access home pages and purchase goods or services on-line.
In the field of such on-line shopping, there is a demand for a service that allows traders to automatically make a telephone call to users after the termination of access to home pages, for the purpose of confirming the purchase or persuading users to purchase, etc.
Conventionally, to enable a trader who has an advertisement posted on a home page to contact a user by telephone after the user accesses the home page, a menu for the entry of users' contact telephone numbers is provided on the home page so that users can enter their telephone number on the menu.
However, the conventional method cannot deal with the following cases:
(1) User enters an erroneous telephone number by mistake. PA1 (2) User does not enter his or her telephone number. PA1 (3) User cannot reach the home page because of line busy condition or the like.
In such cases, the trader loses the business chance. Also, users cannot obtain desired information or place an order for goods etc.